‘You belong here’: Rohit Sharma to Yashasvi Jaiswal during India vs West Indies Test

Rohit Sharma hailed Yashasvi Jaiswal for his temperament and patience during a 171 run knock on debut against the West Indies in the first Test in Dominica. Jaiswal, 21, was adjudged to be the Player of the Match as India got the job done by an innings late on the third day’s evening.

Jaiswal’s knock saw him occupy the crease for 501 minutes or 387 balls, the longest by an Indian Test debutant. Rohit stood at the other end of the pitch for a large part of it.

“He’s got the talent,” Rohit said of Jaiswal. “We knew about it. He’s shown us in the past couple of years that he’s ready for this big stage. Came and batted sensibly, showed a lot of patience, and the temperament was tested as well – at no stage [did it look] like he was panicking or going away from his plans, which was good to see.”

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Rohit, who had scored a Test century against West Indies on debut as well, said he told Jaiswal he belonged at this level.

“In the middle, it was just about having a chat, letting him know, ‘You belong here.’ That is the most important thing, because when you’re playing your first Test match, you kind of keep asking yourself whether you belong here or not, but my job from the other side was to just keep telling him, ‘You’ve done all the hard yards, it’s just about enjoying your time in the middle. Don’t worry about the results, just enjoy your time, and if you do that the results will flow.’”

The Test witnessed debut for another India player – Ishan Kishan. The wicketkeeper-batter had to wait a serious while for his turn to bat but when it came, he only got to stay in the middle for seven overs before Rohit declared. Off the 20th ball he faced, Kishan played one off his hip to pick up a single – his first runs in the longest format.

“I was just letting them know that we probably have an over or so and then we’re declaring,” Rohit said. “I just wanted Ishan to get off the mark, because he had probably played close to 15-20 balls without getting off the mark, so I wanted to tell him, get your first runs in Test cricket and then we have to declare.

“I can understand, playing your first Test match, you have a lot of nerves going around, and I could see, he was sitting there in the dressing room, entire [second] day, wanting to go out to bat, so I know the feeling, but I was just letting him know that we probably have an over or two and then we’re going to declare.”

Once again for India, the spin was the key aspect. R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja took 17 of the 20 wickets as the surface offered sharp turn. Ashwin finished with 12 of those 17 wickets including seven in the second innings.

“The results speak for themselves,” Rohit said of the two spinners. “Both of these guys have been doing it for a while for us now. They know exactly what is expected out of them. There’s not much to tell them [about] what we need to do. It’s just about going to them and giving them that freedom to go and express, because that is when they’re doing their best for the side as well.

“When you have the kind of experience that these guys have, bowling on pitches like this, it’s always a luxury, but yeah, you’ve got to come out and pitch it in the area that you want, and get the pitch to do the rest. Both Ashwin and Jadeja were magnificent in the game, especially Ashwin. To come out and bowl like that shows his class.”

With the commanding innings and 141 run win, India got their first points on the board in the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.

“Always nice to start well, it is a fresh cycle. We weren’t too worried about the pitch, we wanted to come here and get results.

“Important to start well, now about taking that momentum into the second Test. There are a couple of new guys and people who haven’t had much Test cricket, so just about getting them out on the field now.”